With the advent of the Internet, monitoring access to world-wide web sites has reached paramount importance. For example, a school or parent may desire that children only be able to access a limited number of sites that are known not to contain material believed not suitable for children. As another example, an employer may only want its employees to access information from sites that are believed to be relevant to the employees' jobs, and not the entire Internet.
Prior art solutions aimed at monitoring access to world-wide web sites are not fool proof, however. One approach is to incorporate within the program by which Internet access is accomplished safeguards to prevent access to unauthorized sites. For example, versions of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer may be modified such that Internet access is monitored (viz., access to certain site prohibited). However, this approach is easily circumvented by merely installing an unadulterated version of Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet on the computer.
Another approach is to limit access to objectionable sites on the Internet at the Internet Service Provider (ISP) level. To connect to the Internet, a user must have an account with an ISP, through which the user accesses content on the Internet. The ISP thus can limit the content to which the user has access. This approach is also easily circumvented, however. The user may merely connect to the Internet using an account with a different ISP, which allows complete access to the entire Internet, including objectionable content.
Therefore, there is a need for better monitoring of Internet access that is not as easily circumvented as solutions found in the prior art are.